Students donate over 20 tonnes of recycling to charity

Supported by the University and delivered by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), the Moving On project redirects unwanted items that have been donated by students leaving their halls of residence to charity.

The average student generates between 10-20kg of reusable items a year, including stationery, kitchen appliances, books, clothes and bedding. Often many items are thrown away at the end of term, although many are in very good condition.

This year’s project ran from May to September with students able to donate items directly at their halls of residence, as well as via a number of collection banks on the Streatham campus.  Final figures show that 2,950 bags were donated, the equivalent of 23 tonnes with an estimated value to the charity of £41,300.

Russell Hiscox, who leads the Moving On project at the University said: “We are delighted at the amount of items students have donated this year.  We have seen an increase of over 500 additional bags on last year’s figures thanks to the additional collection points on campus and our targeted communication campaign.”

For the first time, students based in Cornwall at our Penryn campus also took part in the campaign and donated an additional 336 bags. It has been confirmed that the British Heart Foundation will have a permanent collection bank onsite in Penryn moving forwards.

Julie Paffett from the British Heart Foundation commented: “We’ve been delighted with the response from University of Exeter students and their overwhelming support for our university campaign. BHF rely solely on stock donations to keep our shops going and the generous donations from the students and staff of University of Exeter will help fund the BHF’s life saving research and continue the fight for every heartbeat.”

The British Heart Foundation and University teams hope to build on the campaign for 2016 providing students with an opportunity to donate items, reduce carbon emissions and support the local community.